We Are Our Own Worst Enemy

If you have a mind to stay behind locked doors, with a loaded gun in your lap, to ward off terrorists and robbers, and stay alive. Or maybe you are paranoid about government oppression. You are looking in the wrong direction.

For all the clandestine effort by the thugs and others, or our government, the most serious enemy in the country is- ourselves. Don’t believe it? Take a look at the statistics. We will only count the dead, we’ll skip the injured. We will stay with accidental deaths, too.

Accidental deaths by: (2011)

• Guns- 600/ year
 
• Drowning - 2,000/ yr.
 
• Choking - 2500/yr

• Fires - 2700/ yr
 
• Falls - 25,000/ yr
 
• Poisoning - 39,000 / yr
 
• Automobiles - 42,000/ yr; including about 5000 pedestrians, 5000 on Motorcycles, and 600 on bicycles.

Via: Canada Free Press

Continue Reading....

HARRY REID EXPLODES ON SENATE FLOOR: ‘SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP!’

WASHINGTON (TheBlaze/AP) — Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) lost his cool on the Senate floor Thursday while trying to get his fellow lawmakers to let Sen. Susan Collins (D-Maine) speak about an appropriations bill.

“Have senators sit down and shut up, OK,” Reid  said angrily, addresing freshman Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin, who was presiding over the Senate, but in an uncharacteristic loud voice aimed at chatting colleagues.

“It’s unfair … it’s just not polite,” the Nevada Democrat continued, reiterating that Sen. Collins had been recognized to speak on a highways and housing bill about to be blocked.

“I’m sure the August recess will have our members in a better mood when they come back,” House Speaker John Boehner told reporters earlier.

The Ohio Republican’s comment followed a question about postponement of a vote on the House version of the highways bill.

Via: The Blaze

Continue Reading....

Obama pivots back to housing as homeownership slides to 18-year low

Startling new housing data released this week could take the pep out of President Obama’s blitz of economic rallies, as they show homeownership dropping despite the push -- by him and his predecessors -- to prop up the market. 

The new Census figures show homeownership dropped in the second quarter to an 18-year low of 65 percent. The rate, which hit a record 69.2 percent in 2004, has now fallen to its pre-housing bubble days nearly two decades ago. 

The president, on the heels of the report, plans to head to Phoenix on Tuesday for a homeownership-themed stop on his multi-city tour -- part of his recent pivot back to the economy. 

But it's unclear whether, given the government's track record, new federal policies could or should be used to help Americans realize their picket-fence dreams. 

Richard Barrington, of Money Rates, argues that homeownership is returning to more reasonable levels, and that the government should not push folks into buying homes they can’t afford.

“In the heat of the housing boom, mortgage lenders pushed the envelope too far in terms of whom they allowed to qualify for a mortgage,” Barrington told FoxNews.com. “A more selective population of homebuyers should also be a more stable one.”

Via: Fox News

Continue Reading...

21 federal agencies working to implement Obamacare, but who are they?

Thirty-nine Republican senators want to know who the 21 federal agencies helping to implement Obamacare are and what those agencies are doing to promote the program.

A leaked April 2013 slideshow from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said 21 federal agencies, including the Departments of Agriculture and Education, are working on an educational program to implement Obamacare.

That reference prompted the senators' curiosity.

"At a time federal agency budgets have been tightened by the sequester and the White House has warned of cuts to basic programs, I would like to know how 21 agencies, such as those overseeing agriculture and education, would have the taxpayer dollars to implement and promote the new health care law — an activity outside of their missions and an expense not authorized by Congress," Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said.

The slides, which were created by CMS's Health Insurance Marketplace Outreach and Education department, do not name the other 19 agencies involved or what they are doing in the effort.

A source within the department would only acknowledge to the Washington Examiner that 21 agencies are doing Obamacare promotional work, but declined to provide additional details.

Via: Washington Examiner

Continue Reading...
.

Border Patrol Union: Drug Cartels Have 'Representatives' in 2,000 U.S. Cities

(CNSNews.com) – In a July 28 letter addressed to “fellow Americans,” the union of former Border Patrol agents called for Congress to deny amnesty to illegal aliens and cited “transnational criminal businesses” that have “representatives” in 2,000 American cities.

“Transnational  criminal  enterprises  have  annually  invested  millions  of  dollars  to  create  and  staff  international  drug   and  human  smuggling  networks  inside  the  United  States; thus  it  is  no  surprise  that  they  continue    to  accelerate  their   efforts  to  get  trusted  representatives  in  place  as  a  means  to  guarantee  continued  success,” the letter, distributed via email by Zach Taylor, chairman of  National  Association  of  Former  Border  Patrol  Officers, Inc., stated.

“We must never lose sight of the fact that the United States is the market place for the bulk of transnational criminal businesses engaged in human trafficking and the smuggling, distribution and sale of illegal drugs,” the letter, signed by former agents for the U.S., Canada, Southwest and U.S./Mexico border chapters, stated. “Organized crime on this scale we are speaking about cannot exist without political protection.

“Most heroin, cocaine, meth, and marijuana marketed in the United States is produced outside of our country, and then smuggled into the United States,” the letter stated. “The placement of trusted foreign employees inside the United States is imperative to insure success in continuing to supply the demand, and returning the profits to the foreign organization.

Via: CNS News

Continue Reading....

Tennessee newspaper fires editorial editor for anti-Obama headline

Earlier this week, President Barack Obama visited Chattanooga, Tenn. as part of his PR blitz on the economy.

But he was greeted with a headline of an editorial in the Chattanooga (Tenn.) Times Free Press, “Take your jobs plan and shove it, Mr. President: Your policies have harmed Chattanooga enough.”

The editorial began:

Welcome to Chattanooga, one of hundreds of cities throughout this great nation struggling to succeed in spite of your foolish policies that limit job creation, stifle economic growth and suffocate the entrepreneurial spirit. Forgive us if you are not greeted with the same level of Southern hospitality that our area usually bestows on its distinguished guests. You see, we understand you are in town to share your umpteenth different job creation plan during your time in office. If it works as well as your other job creation programs, then thanks, but no thanks. We’d prefer you keep it to yourself.

Jim Galloway, writing for the nearby left-leaning Atlanta Journal-Constitution, called the headline “hostile” and “rude.”

And apparently that was a step too far for the newspaper’s management.

In a story published on Thursday, the Free Press announced the firing of editor Drew Johnson and called his headline inappropriate.

The headline was inappropriate for this newspaper. It was not the original headline approved for publication, and Johnson violated the normal editing process when he changed the headline. The newspaper’s decision to terminate Johnson had nothing to do with the content of the editorial, which criticized the president’s job creation ideas and Chattanooga’sSmart Grid. The Free Press page has often printed editorials critical of the president and his policies.

Via: The Daily Caller

Continue Reading....

California: New Cigarette Tax Could Reduce State Revenues

I received two calls from the Board of Equalization late this week claiming information in a story I wrote about the latest tobacco tax bill was wrong. The calls were from Venus Stromberg, spokeswoman, and Brian Miller, tax counsel.

Photo courtesy Sudipto_Sarkar, flickr

SB 768, by state Sen. Kevin de León, D-Los Angeles, would increase the state’s cigarette tax another $2 a pack from the current 87 cents. That would be a 230 percent hike, to $2.87.

I wrote, “The State Board of Equalization has found that California will actually lose hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue if SB 768 passes. Even legislators have become weary of funding programs using tobacco tax revenue because of its instability.”

But the BOE employees who called me said the tax revenues actually will be more than a $300 million net gain through the special fund SB 768 will create.

Yet according to a study by the BOE itself, programs funded by cigarette taxes have experienced a “funding gap” due to cigarette sale decreases. And the revenue raised from the cigarette tax in California has decreased, according to a Federation of Tax Administrators study, “The Tax Burden on Tobacco.”

However, the BOE analysis of the tobacco tax which I linked to in my first story is terribly confusing and also makes it sound as if the state will take a hit.

Via: California Political Review

Continue Reading....

WHY DEFUNDING OBAMACARE MATTERS, WIN OR LOSE

As conservative Senators Mike Lee (R-UT), Ted Cruz (R-TX), and others attempt to build support for a plan to defund Obamacare in this fall's forthcoming budget battles, they have faced criticism from fellow conservatives on two grounds: first, it will be difficult to convince enough Democrats to agree; second, there is little that can be done to stop a program already in motion. 

(Criticism from the left objects to the attempt to "sabotage" the program, forgetting some Democrats' efforts to defund the Iraq War, with troops in the field.)

The critics overlook the strongest case for attempting to defund Obamacare: namely, that doing so is an urgent political necessity to save a party rapidly losing touch with its voter base. 

Conservatives--and, in fact, Americans in general--are eager for an effective opposition party. Among the many different explanations for why Mitt Romney lost in 2012--changing demographics, Tea Party suppression, the "47 percent" remark--the fact remains that he was the candidate least qualified to take on the policy most objectionable to voters.

Obamcare remains deeply unpopular, not just among Republicans: now even unions are complaining. Up to now, the public has seen one interest group after another line up for special waivers and exemptions, but no effort to unite the opposition in common cause against the law itself. Instead, Americans--and conservatives in particular--have watched as one Republican governor after another (with a few noteworthy exceptions) elected in 2009-20 with Tea Party support, has lined up to accept Obamacare's expanded Medicaid funds.

Via: Breitbart

Continue Reading...

MUST READ: Me and My Obamaphones

Me and My Obamaphones

Not on welfare or below the poverty line? Never mind — here’s your free phone.
By  Jillian Kay Melchior


Confession: You’re paying my phone bill.

In the past month, I have received three shiny new cell phones, courtesy of American taxpayers, that should never have fallen into my hands.

The Federal Communications Commission oversees the so-called Lifeline program, created in 1984 to make sure impoverished Americans had telephone service available to call their moms, bosses, and 911. In 2008, the FCC expanded the program to offer subsidized cell-phone service, and since then, the expenses of running the program have soared. In 2012, the program’s costs had risen to $2.189 billion, up from $822 million before wireless carriers were included. As of June, there were 13.8 million active Lifeline subscriptions.

To be eligible for Lifeline, the applicant is supposed to be receiving some significant government benefit — food stamps, Medicaid, Supplemental Security Income, public housing assistance, etc. But because welfare eligibility has expanded under the Obama administration, more people than ever before are qualified to receive “free” cell-phone service — part of the reason why Lifeline mobiles have become commonly known as Obamaphones. Alternatively, applicants can qualify if their household income is less than 136 percent of the federal poverty line.

Via: National Review

Continue Reading....

Poll: Obama No Help to the Middle Class

Only 12% of Americans Think Obama’s Policies Have Helped The Middle Class…

Despite his ongoing campaign to promote his economic agenda, President Obama is having trouble persuading the country that his policies are helping the middle class.

The latest Monmouth University poll finds that a plurality of Americans think Wall Street and other elites have been served better than the middle class by the president. Only 12 percent of Americans said middle class families have greatly benefited from Obama's policies, while 46 percent said they haven't benefited at all and an additional 39 percent say they have benefited only a "little."

[READ: GOP Strategist: Obama in a 'World of Hurt']

There is considerable skepticism that Obama's policies have been of much benefit to any groups. But the haves are seen as benefiting more than the have-nots, according to the poll. Forty-four percent said Wall Street bankers had been helped "a lot" by Obama; 35 percent said wealthy families had benefited a lot, along with health insurance companies at 34 percent, poor families at 20 percent and middle class families at only 12 percent.

Obama has been emphasizing his middle-class agenda in a series of speeches around the country, but it apparently isn't having much impact so far. "Given President Obama's track record with the middle class, this new focus may be seen as too little too late," said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute in West Long Branch, N.J., in a prepared statement. "Of course, some of the problem may lie in the acrimonious relationship between the president and the House of Representatives," which is controlled by Republicans.

A spokesman for the pollster added: "The American public is split on the veracity of President Obama's announcement that he wants to refocus the remainder of his term on helping the middle class. Less than half (46 percent) believe the president when he says this, while exactly half (50 percent) do not believe him."

Via: US News

Continue Reading....